Assessment & feedback

At Keevil CofE Academy, we believe that feedback is an essential part of effective teaching and learning.

We believe that feedback has the ability to unlock pupils potential and that if used effectively, can lead to accelerated progress. We acknowledge that feedback comes in a variety of forms and should be a regular and integral part of every lesson. We are mindful also of the workload implications of written marking, and of the research surrounding effective feedback.

Following the introduction of the new National Curriculum in 2014 and the end of 'levels' we have worked hard to create a new assessment system which we call the 'Steps'. 

This system is used as targets for children, so they know the next steps in their learning; is used to communicate attainment to parents; and is used by the school to identify gaps in learning and measure the progress of every child.

We have developed our own spreadsheet-based system to rigorously track children's progress and attainment, using FFT 5% targets to set aspirational goals for staff and pupils . Teachers up-date the system at least once every half term with current assessment information, which may come from formal tests (NFER, national assessments, other standardised tests), other diagnostic assessments and/or teacher judgements against our curriculum outcomes.  This drives conversations during Pupil Progress Meetings which take place 5 times a year between the Head, SENCO and each class teacher and TA. In these meetings the progress and attainment of each child is discussed in depth, specifically considering their achievements in Maths and English and more generally. This allows prompt action to be taken if we feel that a child is not meeting their full potential in any way.

At Keevil, we believe that assessment, recording, reporting and target setting should:

• Be both formative and summative.
• Be a tool to enhance learning.
• Offer all pupils an opportunity to show what they know, understand and can do.
• Be part of a continuous cycle for all learning to evaluate and inform future planning and teaching for all learners in the class.
• Be ongoing and part of everyday activities in every lesson.
• Help pupils to understand what they can do to improve.
• Involve children with their own learning. For example: self-assessment or whole class marking.
• Drive SEND Support Passports and My Support Plans for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
• Support monitoring of the curriculum planning.
• Develop clear, focused learning intentions.

Our policy is underpinned by the evidence of best practice from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and other expert organisations. Research shows that effective feedback should:

• redirect or refocus either the teacher’s or the learner’s actions to achieve a goal
• be specific, accurate and clear
• encourage and support further effort
• be given sparingly so that it is meaningful
• provide specific guidance on how to improve and not just tell students when they are wrong
• Inform parents about their child’s progress and important next steps.